The 2008 sports year has already offered us some unbelievably memorable moments. Here is a list of the top five momnets in sports in 2008.
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Top Ten Closers Ever?
A baseball closer is the last line of defense. Closers are responsible for saving (or blowing) hundreds of games each year. A closer has to be tough, confident, and skilled. Closers have to have thick skin. They can be anointed the hero, and criticized greatly all in the same week. They have to have a short memory, and continue to do their job with passion and confidence. One pitch can make or break a game, so a closer has to be clutch. A closer also has to have at least one great pitch. Many closers have an electrifying fastball with high velocity and movement. Others rely on finesse and location. Here is look at perhaps 10 of the greatest closers of all time.
There are numerous dates on which I could write this piece.
I could have written it on June 15th, the five year anniversary of Patrick Dennehy’s disappearance. Or on the 25th, when his Chevy Tahoe was found abandoned in Virginia Beach, Va, stripped of all its license plates. If I wanted to, and trust me when I say I never wanted to write this article, I could have waited until July 23 when Carlton Dotson was charged with murdering Dennehy, or July 25, when the mutilated and decomposed body of a young college student was discovered right outside of Waco, Texas, where both had gone to school. Finally, I could have waited until July 30, August 8, or August 16, all dates referring to Baylor men’s head basketball coach Dave Bliss.
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Diamonds are Forever
Not sure if I was ever meant to play baseball, but, for a time, if felt perfectly natural. I sometimes wonder if we are assigned dreams before birth, impossible missions never meant for completion, just so we could learn something from the failure.
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Gone 4-ever? Not so Favre.
This is the NFL off-season right? It is amazing that the off-season of the NFL dominates the headlines more than other sports regular season. We have seen the NFL Draft, free agency, the debate over rookie contracts, defensive ends Dancing with the Stars and now the biggest dance of them all, the Brett Favre retirement tease. Just when you thought you would see your first season without #4 in Green Bay, it sounds as if we may be seeing Favre play again this fall… but will it be back in Green Bay?
Yesterday the verdict came in. The city of Seattle needed a payoff to allow the team to move to Oklahoma City. For $45 million up front and possibly $30 million later on the Seattle Sonics are no more. The previous owner is suing current owner Clay Bennett, saying he broke an agreement between the two to “make an honest effort” to work out a deal with the city of Seattle. This is nothing more than a publicity stunt. If the previous owner wanted the team to stay in Seattle he would have sold the team to someone not from Oklahoma City. Since there is no deal in writing this will be thrown out of court and Oklahoma City will enjoy NBA basketball in 2009.
Now as part of the agreement between Seattle and Bennett the green and white colors and the “Sonics” will stay in Seattle. So what should they name this “new” team?
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The Sonics Are Gone…On Vacation?
By David J. Cohen
The Sonics were just sold by the city of Seattle for $75 million. Seattle fans are devastated about the loss of their 41 year long basketball stronghold. Many NBA experts and reporters will tell you Seattle is a basketball town that loves their Sonics. And while attendance was among the worst in the NBA last year they were packing the house competitively in most years before that. There was even an organization formed, called Save Our Sonics, that ultimately failed in its efforts to keep the team in Seattle. It’s been a great run but now Sonics fans will forever go sleepless in Seattle.
Or will they?
Washington might not be a horse racing hotbed, but the small community in the Pacific Northwest has always loved its champions.
None, financially speaking, was as prolific as Saratoga Passage, who passed away unceremoniously Saturday of colic at the age of 23.
By David J. Cohen
Recently NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came out and said it is “ridiculous” for players like Jake Long to make boatloads of money without proving themselves in the NFL. He said “There’s something wrong with the system, the money should go to people who perform.”
There were some clichés I never thought I would say. Near the top of that list was “both men deserved to win.”
Maybe I didn’t fully understand the implications of such a statement; maybe I thought it couldn’t capture reality; maybe I avoided it because it was a cliché. None of that matters now. After watching the gentlemen’s singles finals at Wimbledon Sunday, there is no saying that has more truth that I have ever come across.